By Bruce Wolfe, HANC President
At the March Membership meeting, we heard from Shahid Buttar, director of grassroots advocacy for the Electronic Freedom Frontier (EFF). Shahid gave interesting insights as to what is current and coming up on the horizon from the new presidential administration under Donald Trump. He gave an overview of the new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and what we could expect from his tenure, including the repeal of Net Neutrality and online privacy. Shahid gave some simple suggestions to help us all be safe online and fielded many questions.
Our second presentation for the night was an update on Haight Ashbury Free Clinics (HAFC) from staff of Health Right 360 with Dr. Anita Barzman and Dr. Nina Soares. Dr David Lloyd of the Health Right 360 project, Rock Medicine, also presented. HAFC is in full gear in the Haight Ashbury at its usual location at Clayton and Haight Streets. They fielded questions and explained how the potential repeal of Affordable Care Act (ACA) could affect their work. They discussed various services and approaches that need to be maintained to provide health and life of those in need, including counseling, regular medical care and clean needles.
Lastly, Rosie Dilger, from the new office of the Ratepayer Advocate at the Department of Public Works gave an update about a proposed Recology rate change and ways for the public to provide input. She explained that there will be no change in service but that rates have not been adjusted in a while and now is an appropriate time.